Investigators Focus on Use of Slain Family's A.T.M. Card

By TINA KELLEY Published: March 1,
2005

udsonCounty
investigators are studying video surveillance tapes made at automated teller
machines where money was withdrawn from the account of a Jersey
City man after the man and his family were stabbed to death in
their home, the HudsonCounty prosecutor said
yesterday.

The prosecutor, Edward J. De Fazio, said withdrawals were made numerous times over five
or six days from the account of HossamArmanious, 47, after he, his wife, AmalGaras, 37, and their daughters, Sylvia, 15, and
Monica, 8, were killed. They were found dead on Jan. 14, after worried
relatives called the police. The police said the four were each bound and
stabbed to death.

"The A.T.M. card of Mr. Armanious was used fraudulently on a number of occasions
after the murders took place," said Mr. De Fazio.
"We believe the fraudulent use began the day after the murders."

The withdrawals have bolstered a possible
robbery motive for the killings, which have sent shock waves through the
Egyptian community in the region and raised allegations about a possible
religious feud.

The family belonged to the Coptic
Orthodox Church, the principal Christian church in Egypt, and Mr. Armanious
was said to have been threatened with death by someone in an Internet chat room
during an argument about Christianity and Islam.

"Nothing has been discounted,"
Mr. De Fazio said of the possibility of a religious feud.
But, he added, "We have found no substantial corroboration of the chat
room Internet angle."

Investigators had previously said that
drawers in the house had been rifled, that Mr. Armonious's
wallet was empty and that essentially no money was found in the home.

"Certainly we believe that the
financial motivation exists, that's fact," he said.

Mr. De Fazio
said the card was used, with Mr. Armanious's personal
identification number, to take out thousands of dollars from a number of
locations in the Heights section of Jersey
City and in Midtown Manhattan. He would not say how
many times it had been used, or exactly how much money had been taken from the
combined checking, equity and savings account, nor would he say which bank had
held the money.

"In no way was this account
looted," he said, meaning that money remained in the account.

He said he believed the maximum amount
that could be withdrawn in a single transaction was $400 to $600.

"That's the area we're talking about
with the various hits," he said.

Mr. De Fazio
would not say what, if anything, investigators had already seen on the
surveillance tapes, nor would he say whether they believed the person who made
the withdrawals was the killer.

"There's no suspect at this point,
but we're guardedly optimistic that we will identify the person who was using
the A.T.M. card," he said.

Investigators learned of the card's use
after submitting court orders for all the family's financial records, said Mr.
De Fazio, who would not specify when the A.T.M. visits
were discovered. So far none of the family's credit cards have been used after
the killings, he said.

Mr. De Fazio
said the family did not appear to be in financial trouble. The father worked
for the banquets department of the Westin Princeton hotel, and the mother
worked for the United States Postal Service in Kearney. Both girls attended school.

"They were living modestly, but
apparently there were resources," he said. "There's nothing to
indicate any sort of nefarious activity going on, as far as the family
goes."

Family members have not seen the video
yet, Mr. De Fazio said, adding, "We haven't
reached that point in the investigation where that's required."

The use of the A.T.M. card was first
reported yesterday in The Star-Ledger.

News of a possible financial motive was
greeted with skepticism by relatives and members of the Coptic Church.

"First of all, I don't believe that
story, it could be just camouflage for anything the F.B.I. wants to discover,
to try to make it like robbery, which is nonsense," said MonirDawoud, acting president of
the American Coptic Association. The F.B.I. is assisting in the search for the
killers.

It did not make sense that "someone
would be stupid enough" to use the card after all the attention given to
the killings, he said.

AymanGaras, AmalGaras's brother, also said he did not believe robbery
was behind the killings. "I don't want to accuse or judge, I have to just
wait the final results" of the investigation, he said.